October 28, 2025 • 27 mins
A routine Saturday turned life-changing when Leah’s dad had a seizure behind the wheel—ER scans revealed brain lesions, and a full-body scan showed his lungs “lit up like a Christmas tree.” A biopsy confirmed stage four metastatic melanoma, forcing Leah and her mom into an accelerated crash course on brain radiation, immunotherapy, and caregiving. What began as a stage zero melanoma in 2019 suddenly escalated, rewriting everything they thought they knew about “being done” with cancer.
Leah shares the real story behind survival: seven rounds of gamma knife, twenty-one infusions, and the moment treatment had to stop to save his lungs. Stability came not by chance but through vigilance, monthly scans, and grace as the intervals lengthened to six months. Beyond medicine, Leah gets candid about the emotional and practical toll—losing independence, routines, and normalcy—and what caregivers and clinicians can do better: slow down, explain, listen, and humanize every stage. This conversation blends practical guidance with grounded hope for anyone navigating melanoma or supporting someone who is.
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_02 (00:00):
And then I had my stage one A melanoma a month
after his, so very closetogether.
And then he and I thought thatwe kind of left melanoma in the
history books uh back in 2019.
And so they did another scan,full body, and then they saw his
lungs lit up like a Christmastree.
There were lesions all over hislungs.
(00:22):
He did seven rounds of gammaknife radiation to the brain to
treat the lesions because thelesions in his brain were all
inoperable.
So they were all very tiny andscattered.
So there was no way surgerywould be able to treat that.
SPEAKER_00 (00:37):
Welcome to Dermit Trotter, Don't Swear About Skin
Care, where host Dr.
Shannon C.
Trotter, a board-certifieddermatologist, sits down with
fellow dermatologists andskincare experts to separate
fact from fiction and simplifyskincare.
Let's get started.
SPEAKER_01 (00:54):
Welcome to the Dermitrotter Don't Swear About
Skin Care podcast.
Today we have another episode inwhat I've called sort of our
patient perspectives.
You know, my goal is to reallybring to not only expert skin
information, but I really wantto help you understand the
patient perspective becauselisteners out there, I know
you've gone through somethingsimilar and you're probably
looking for, okay, I know thedermatologist knows what they're
(01:17):
talking about, but what is thepatient perspective?
What about somebody else that'sactually experienced what I'm
going through?
And for our healthcareproviders, I want you to remind
yourself of the human side ofwhy we do what we do, that
patients are people and they gothrough real things.
So back on the show today, I'mso excited to have Leah Adams.
She's an avid runner, a melanomasurvivor, and the daughter of a
(01:40):
stage four melanoma warrior.
Welcome back to the podcast,Leah.
SPEAKER_02 (01:45):
Thanks, Dr.
Trotter, for having me.
I'm excited to be back heretoday.
SPEAKER_01 (01:49):
Well, you shared a lot of words of wisdom with us
on our previous podcast whereyou just talked about your own
personal experience withmelanoma, but your story is a
bit more unique than others, andthat you've also had a family
member, your dad diagnosed withmelanoma.
And I think he has a veryinteresting story for us to be
aware of too, because nobodywants to take melanoma for
granted, even those earlystages, because sometimes it's
(02:12):
much more than we anticipate.
So I'm really excited to haveyou here today to really share
kind of your perspective on whathe went through, and then also
talk a bit about what it is liketo help care for somebody,
watching somebody go throughmore advanced melanoma as well.
So I'm gonna kind of startthere.
And I know for those of you thatheard the other podcast with
Leah, you might have heard hermom is a rock star.
(02:33):
She needs to be a dermatologistand come to the office because
she was not only able torecognize Alicia on her husband,
Leah's dad, but also on Leah andhelped identify her melanoma.
So I want you to take me back towhere your mom noticed something
on your dad, or maybe somethingoccurred before that that made
you suspicious.
SPEAKER_02 (02:48):
Yeah.
So my mom back in August of 2019noticed a suspicious small on my
dad's upper back.
And it was not looking good.
It was oozing, it was pussing,it was pretty large.
And at the time, I believe mydad was in his early 60s.
(03:09):
Um, so and up until that point,he never went for a skin check.
So it was probably time for himto get one.
So um my mom made him anappointment, and he went in and
he had that mole biopsied, andit came back stage zero in site
two melanoma, and um theytreated it like an outpatient
(03:33):
procedure, wide local excision,and was told to return every six
months for skin checks.
And not entirely sure if he didthat, uh, but that was his first
bout of melanoma.
And then I had my stage one Amelanoma a month after his, so
very close together.
(03:53):
And then he and I thought thatwe kind of left melanoma in the
history books uh back in 2019.
Uh but unfortunately that wasnot the case because in January
of 2021, so we were still kindof in the height of the pandemic
and for COVID.
Um, my dad was with my mom,thankfully, but they were out on
(04:16):
a Saturday morning runningerrands.
And my dad was driving and hehad a seizure behind the wheel.
And um, luckily, my mom was ableto grab the wheel, pull them
over, call 911, and he was takento the closest hospital.
They scanned his brain to seewhat was going on, and his brain
(04:38):
scan lit up like a Christmastree.
There were lesions all over hisbrain.
Um, and the hospital he wasrushed to, after seeing that,
knew that he needed to go to abigger hospital that was going
to be able to accommodate asituation like that.
So he was lifelited to anotherhospital to do more testing and
(04:59):
a full body scan.
And because they realized, well,if there's things in his brain,
there may be other things, otherplaces in his body.
And so they did another scan,full body, and then they saw his
lungs lit up like a Christmastree.
There were lesions all over hislungs.
And before they did any biopsy,they saw those lesions in his
(05:23):
lungs.
And his doctors at the time weresaying these resemble metastatic
melanoma in the brain.
And once we heard that, we werevery shocked and very confused.
And as I mentioned, this was instill kind of the height of
COVID.
I was not able to see my dadbecause at that time, only one
(05:43):
person was allowed to go intothe hospital.
And that person was my mom.
And so hearing all this news,having, you know, her basically
being the messenger andreporting it to me, and I was
kind of outside of the hospital,and it was just a really crazy
time.
And so they basically never wantto go into the brain unless they
(06:05):
absolutely have to.
So they did an immediate lungbiopsy to take one of the
lesions in his lungs, test it,and see what it was.
And the results came back stagefour metastatic melanoma.
And so, kind of putting theirspeculation of what they saw in
the brain and then it matchingthe results from the lungs.
(06:26):
That's when he was deemed stagefour metastatic in the brain and
lungs with melanoma.
And we were all very shockedbecause, again, like I
mentioned, we thought we putthis in the history books back
in 2019.
Um, you know, his situation isum, whenever I tell his story,
it's scary for people because alot of people that have had
(06:46):
early stage melanoma, like zeroor one, they wonder, oh my
goodness, could that, you know,be me over time?
And after having a lot ofconversations with his doctors,
they're pretty confident thatsince it's very rare for a stage
zero in SIT2 to recur andmetastasize, they believe that
(07:07):
this was two different primarysources of the melanoma that
caused this.
And so they immediately wantedto get him onto treatment.
And so he did seven rounds ofgamma knife radiation to the
brain to treat the lesions,because the lesions in his brain
(07:28):
were all inoperable.
So they were all very tiny andscattered.
So there was no way surgerywould be able to treat that.
Um, and then to treat thelesions in his lungs, he was
scheduled to do 24 rounds ofimmunotherapy, four rounds of a
combo drug, and then theremainder would be a
single-agent drug.
(07:49):
And um that was really hard tosee his body and him go through
that.
Um, those drugs and thatradiation is very powerful on
the human body.
And um, you know, I don't thinkwe were totally prepared for
that because those drugs arepowerful and a lot of people can
(08:12):
withstand them, but a lot ofpeople cannot.
Some people don't, they can't,their body just can't tolerate
it, so they have to stop.
Um so my dad got through allseven rounds of gamma knife
radiation, and he got through 21rounds out of the 24 rounds of
immunotherapy.
And the only reason why theystopped him at the 21 of
(08:35):
immunotherapy round is becausewhen you have stage four
metastatic melanoma, kind of theroutine is every month you go
in, you get blood work done, youget a scan, and then they clear
you for treatment.
Well, they noticed thatsomething was going on in his
lungs that wasn't cancerrelated.
It was lung inflammation andfluid building up in his lungs.
(08:58):
And they had to try to figureout was this cancer progression
or was it a reaction from theimmunotherapy drugs?
And they were able to do sometests that identified that that
was actually coming from thedrugs.
Um, so his oncologist told us,you know, if we don't stop this
treatment now, he's not gonnadie from melanoma.
(09:20):
He's gonna die from his lungsbasically becoming inflamed and
filling up with fluid.
So his, you know, it was kind ofa bittersweet moment because um
up until that point he wasreally responding well to
treatment, kind of got badthrough all the negative side
effects.
Um, his body adapted to thetreatment.
Um, but at the same time, he wasso close to finishing, you know,
(09:43):
just a couple uh rounds away.
Uh but his oncologist feltconfident because knowing how
many rounds of radiation and howmany rounds of immuno he had,
and knowing how well heresponded, they felt confident
saying, you know, we're gonnajust pause this year, we'll do
every three-month scans and gofrom there.
(10:04):
And that stopped in November of2022.
And to this day, in May of 2025,his cancer is still stable.
Um, he now got graduated toevery six-month scans.
We're hoping to move to once ayear soon.
But looking at his scans fromnow to back then, it's
(10:24):
incredible what that treatmenthas done.
And no, it hasn't been an easyjourney on myself as a daughter
or my mom as a wife and aprimary caregiver.
But we're also just supergrateful, you know, that he's
still here because I lovetelling my story and my dad's
story because it's a really goodlearning opportunity for people
(10:48):
to understand what melanoma is.
My dad and I have had the samecancer.
The only difference is that onewas caught early and one was not
caught early.
And that is the seriousness andreally speaks to the point of
how melanoma is the fastestspreading, deadliest type of
skin cancer.
So that is my dad's story andeverything we've been through
(11:12):
with him.
SPEAKER_01 (11:14):
How do you feel like your your dad did?
I mean, obviously, I don't knowif you had conversations with
him, but when you're watchingsomebody go through it in it,
and it's your dad, right?
You know, your parents are kindof your heroes, they're a bit
invincible, you know, especiallywhen we're younger.
And now you see sort of thishuman vulnerable side to him.
How did he deal with adiagnosis?
And did he let you kind of helpand help him sort of process
(11:38):
what was going on and gettingbetter?
SPEAKER_02 (11:41):
It was hard for him because one of the biggest
things that was a challenge iswhen he had the seizure, um,
knowing we live in the state ofOhio, and I think it's pretty
common in other states as well,uh, you get your license taken
away from you because you're notmedically deemed to operate a
(12:02):
vehicle after having a seizure.
And I think the minimum waittime is six months.
And so that really impacted himbecause before his seizure, he
was actually an Amazon driverfor work.
And so melanoma not onlyimpacted his ability to drive,
but it also took away his job.
And um, you know, my dad, he'slike one of those guys where
(12:28):
even though I could drive or mymom can drive, whenever we were
in the car all together, hewanted to be the one to drive.
Like that was like his thing.
And um, I think taking that, youknow, small act away from him
really hit him hard, um, knowingit impacted, you know, his daily
(12:51):
routine, it impacted his job, itimpacted his financial
situation.
Um and, you know, not to besexist, but I think men and
women sometimes deal withcertain things like that
differently.
There's something about, youknow, you know, when something
like that happens to a manversus a woman, like sometimes
(13:12):
men can, I think, take it alittle harder, you know, because
you know, they're the man,they're the man of the house,
they're the man to do this.
And, you know, my dad couldn'teven drive to go get his hair
cut.
He couldn't drive to the grocerystore to pick up, you know, a
gallon of milk.
Like I drove my dad around andmy mom drove him around.
And obviously we did it verygraciously, but he felt like he
(13:35):
was a burden.
He felt like, you know, hecouldn't do anything.
And that played a toll on him, Ithink, mentally and emotionally,
his ego, who he was as a person.
Um, and it impacted him a longtime.
Um and unfortunately, you know,given that he had additional
seizure activity past thatsix-month timeframe, um, he
(13:58):
didn't drive for two years.
And imagine like us right now,if our license was just taken
away from us, like not beingable to drive, how much that
would impact us?
Um, it makes things challenging.
And so, again, putting it backto the perspective of melanoma,
imagine if a skin cancer coulddo that to you.
(14:19):
That's what melanoma can do toyou, you know, if that is how it
presents in somebody's brainthat causes seizures.
SPEAKER_01 (14:29):
And you're right.
I think that's what people justdon't think about is what's the
impact.
You know, you know, okay,cancer, I'm gonna have to go
through treatment, you know, I'mgonna have to do surgery, the
side effects.
But then really, how does itchange, you know, your life?
I mean, this is a life-altering,you know, diagnosis.
And I I think many diagnosesare, but in particular, like you
said, this stigma we've talkedabout, skin cancer, that, you
(14:51):
know, it's oh, cut it out andforget about it.
And sometimes too, he may havehad a little bit of comfort, you
know, with that early stage,thinking like, oh yeah, stage
your I'm I'm good to go.
And nobody thinks lightningstrikes twice, right?
I mean, although we know ifyou've had one melanoma your
risk for another issignificantly higher, and who
knows, you know, where theythink maybe that was a different
primary, how long that couldhave even been there, you know,
(15:12):
and and obviously, you know, himhaving it spread and become more
dangerous.
You know, if people are outthere caring for somebody, do
you have any tips or tricks, youknow, to sort of share with
them?
And you can empathize in adifferent way, obviously,
because you had melanoma, buthow to sort of help them process
things or be there for support?
Did anything, you know, fromworking with your, you know, or
(15:34):
I should say working, takingcare of your dad, did it really
kind of give you an ability tokind of help people through a
more difficult situation?
SPEAKER_02 (15:42):
It really allowed me to practice the skill of empathy
because yes, I've had melanoma,but I haven't had that kind of
melanoma.
And boy, did that open my eyesto what melanoma can do to a
person and their body.
Um, you know, from a caregiver'sperspective, I mean, my mom was
(16:04):
really the primary caregiver,and I was kind of the secondary
caregiver.
I'm an only child, so it'seither me or my mom, uh the ones
caring for my dad.
But I would say that it wasreally important, I think, for
me to meet my dad where he wasat.
So there would be days where I'dgo over there, and I may have
had expectations of, oh, maybehe'd want to go, like, I'll take
(16:27):
him to go play nine.
He's a golfer, he loves to golf,or maybe go to the driving
range.
And those that first year of himin treatment, I mean, he was
kind of like not well.
Um, like he wasn't himself, hewouldn't um really feel up to
doing much.
Even walking around the housewould be a lot for him.
(16:49):
Um, and so that would be sad,you know, to see a parent like
that.
But at the end of the day, Ialways had to remind myself
that, you know, that's okay.
Like we can watch a televisionshow together, or we can just
hang out in the living room.
And, you know, it really made mevalue the little things because
I started to learn while being acaregiver to my dad that these
(17:10):
little things in life thathappen to us, they're really the
big things.
And, you know, there's somepeople that may not have a
relationship with their dad ormay not even have their dad
around.
But, you know, I would againdoing that reframing that I was
speaking about in our firstepisode together, there's really
power to that and how youinterpret your situation and
(17:30):
what happens to you intosomething that's beneficial that
will allow you to kind of moveforward with whatever you're
going through.
Um, something else that Ilearned as a caregiver is that
you can't pour from an emptycup.
It is super important to takecare of yourself.
Um, so you know, as much asthere were times where I
(17:50):
remember I was training for amarathon the year my dad was
going through training.
And I remember there were acouple calls on my long runs.
I had to log, I think, a 14, 15mile run.
But in mile eight, I got a callthat my dad went to the
emergency room because of, youknow, side effects from his
treatment and um trying to notlet that interfere with what I
(18:12):
was doing or get to me or get medown.
And, you know, and again,knowing that um, no, I may have
not have finished that mileageor, you know, that I was
supposed to run, but I still gotout and ran a little bit.
And I still, you know, took alittle bit of time to myself and
did what I loved and know thatI'm still working towards a
(18:32):
goal.
Um, and again, that didn'talways come easy.
Um, and learning that didn'talways come easy, and also
reminding my mom to do that tooand take care of herself, uh,
which I know a lot of moms needthat reminder.
Um, but that is something I hadto learn as a, you know, a
daughter taking care of a dad.
Um, but yeah, I think it's it'sreally important to kind of meet
(18:55):
the patient where they're at,um, take care of yourself.
And also, like, not always talkabout cancer.
Like, there's other things thatwe can talk about.
Like, I learned that too.
Like, I remember when I wouldsee my dad, I'd ask him how he
was doing, and then I wouldn'ttalk about it again.
Like, we talk about sports, wetalk about the weather, we talk
(19:16):
about other things.
Because I try to put myself intheir shoes.
I wouldn't want to talk aboutcancer the only time I was
seeing, you know, my child orparent or what have you.
Um, so you know, it again,there's a lot of tips and tricks
I can provide, but those arelike the really big ones that I
learned throughout being acaregiver.
SPEAKER_01 (19:37):
That's a big lesson I think for people to, you know,
try to grasp.
And it's hard because, you know,you've been this person up to a
certain point, right?
And then you get a diagnosis.
And I think too many people letit define them, you know, and
and some people embrace that,thinking that it's a healthy
approach.
And I think I would agree withyou on kind of what you're
saying that, you know, it's apart of who you are, but it
(19:58):
doesn't necessarily define you.
You don't necessarily let thecancer or melanoma define you.
You know, what's a part of it'sa part of you and what's
happened, but what defines youis how you handle it, how you
process it, how maybe you moldit or help it evolve into
something more positive foryourself or for others, just
like you and it sounds like yourdad have been able to do.
But not that that's um an easytask, I think, for most people,
(20:21):
because it obviously is going tobe dominating for your thoughts
and your mind.
And so I think that can be achallenge for anyone, but great
advice to try to use it in a waythat, like you said, you know, I
doesn't necessarily, you know,become a def definite part of
who they are from the standpointthat that's all you talk about.
You know, you're so much morethan that.
And people need to be remindedof that.
I think that's healthy and apart of the healing process.
(20:43):
As both you and your dad havegone through that healing
process, one of the things Iwanted to ask you, especially
for healthcare providers thatlisten, we have dermatologists,
family medicine docs,pediatricians, MPs, PAs in
Durham, other specialties thathave helped deliver the news of
a melanoma diagnosis or maybesomething more advanced, you
(21:04):
know, that's going on with thepatient if it's, you know, a
more serious melanoma.
What's your feedback orexperience been like?
I think the good, the bad, andthe ugly, because we need to
know, I think, as providers outthere that we're delivering this
in a useful way for patientswith compassion, with accurate
information.
So I wanted to get a little bitof kind of your side of how,
both for you and dad, if you canrecall, how did that go?
(21:27):
And what would you tell somebodyout there that's getting ready
to call a patient, maybe tonightor later today with a diagnosis
of melanoma?
How do you help them throughthat?
SPEAKER_02 (21:36):
I think from an early stage perspective, um, for
me, I would like to be treatedlike any other stage cancer
patient and um, you know, havemy dermatologist or provider ask
me if I have questions, youknow, do I understand any, you
(21:59):
know, thoughts, concerns, youknow, feelings come to mind, um,
and maybe provide resources, youknow, to work through what just
happened to me, uh, you know,getting a cancer diagnosis and
especially one that's melanoma,that at the time, you know, that
person may not know where to go,you know, to provide or to
(22:21):
receive resources.
Um, so that's something that Iwish I had, even though I was,
you know, stage one, I wouldhave loved to know if there was
like maybe like a younger adultsgroup, support group I could
have maybe got involved with,because at the time of my
melanoma, the only person I knewwas my dad who had stage zero a
(22:43):
month before me.
And it would have been nice tokind of find community with
people that were maybe around myage with a similar stage.
Um, and then as far as my dad'sexperience, um, you know, again,
during the height of COVID, Iactually wasn't there when my
dad received the results.
But what I did see were thoseappointments that went really
(23:05):
well with my dad's doctors andhis team.
And I will say the mostmemorable appointments were the
ones where the oncologistanswered every single question.
Like I remember some of them, ifmy dad didn't understand things,
they'd get out a piece of paperand draw a diagram and say,
like, does this make sense?
Like, do you understand this?
And just we just felt reallysecure and felt really
(23:31):
reassured.
And the fact that we didn't feellike we were being rushed out of
that room.
Like there were times where theyreally took the time to talk to
patients.
And I know that's not always thecase because I get it, there's a
ton of cancer patients, and youall have a very limited time
frame to get through all thosepatients.
But I will say the mostmemorable were the ones that
(23:53):
took the time to meet my dadwhere he was at, as far as like
comprehending treatment orcomprehending scans.
And um, that really meant a lotto us because, you know, yes,
you're dealing with a cancerdiagnosis, but a lot of this
stuff, it's a lot to process andtake in.
And especially if you add likemedical terminology on top of
(24:17):
that, where like I get testresults sometimes and I don't
even know what I'm reading.
It's hard to interpret, youknow?
And then looking at my dad'sscans, I mean, that's like
reading a different language,you know.
So I remember just thoseexperiences with my dad's
doctors who are still like that,you know, every six months.
We just see them less now.
(24:37):
They're still lovely.
And um, you know, we reallyappreciate that because you
talked about this before, Dr.
Trotter.
We want to be treated like we'rehuman.
And it was the doctors thatreally kind of put themselves in
our shoes that really made usfeel um okay when maybe things
(24:58):
weren't okay, but we had theirsupport and we had their
reassurance, and that meant theworld to us.
SPEAKER_01 (25:05):
Well, and I think we forget that sometimes, you know,
when we're we are rushed, you'reright.
There's, you know, we're worriedabout, oh gosh, we're running so
many minutes behind, or there'sa patient next door, and you
forget sometimes to just reallyfocus and listen, you know, to
that patient and give them thetime.
I will say, particularly indermatology, we can be guilty of
it.
We are a faster-paced specialty.
(25:27):
And sometimes, you know, youneed to stop and take that
breath and ground yourself andrealize this is a little bit
different patient that I'm aboutready to walk into or talk to or
maybe do their skin exam and notto discredit, you know, somebody
who might have a wart next doorand it's driving them crazy,
right?
But at the same point, when youhave somebody with melanoma, you
know, to really give them anunderstanding that you're really
(25:50):
here for them and to remind themthat, you know, even though you
may not have all the answers,you're gonna help them through
the process and you know, do thebest skin check you can,
especially on the derm side, butjust to deliver, I think you
said that time and attention.
Even when we don't know theanswers or something's not
right, boy, does that just gothe extra mile?
You know, I think that's whatpeople want.
They want that time.
(26:10):
And sometimes we can forget todo that.
So in the derm climate, it canbe a little difficult, I know.
And you've probably seen this atdermatology offices.
Um, and so it's a challenge, butI think we can rise to it to
really help our patients andreally make a difference for
them, especially when they carrya melanoma diagnosis.
Now, I apologize.
We are running out of timealready again.
So I I want to thank you so muchfor sharing, though, the story
(26:32):
of your dad and being acaregiver, how you can help us
out there as you know, it's onthe forefront of trying to
diagnose melanoma and help withearly management and get people
to the right place.
For our listeners out there,Leah, if they want to try to
track you down, where can theyfind you online?
SPEAKER_02 (26:46):
Yeah, the best place to find me online is Instagram,
and I can be found at the LeahAlexis.
And you can follow my journeywith melanoma, my running
journey, as well as my dad'sjourney on there.
SPEAKER_01 (27:01):
Thank you so much for sharing.
And thanks again for coming on.
Um, it's really brave of you toshare, you know, you know, this
experience.
You know, I'm a private person,so it's hard for me to come on.
I really appreciate people thatare willing to put themselves
out there and to help others.
So thank you again for coming onthe podcast.
SPEAKER_02 (27:15):
Well, thanks for having me, Dr.
Trotter.
It's been a pleasure.
SPEAKER_01 (27:18):
Of course.
And stay tuned for the nextepisode of Dermot Trotter.
Don't swear about skincare.
SPEAKER_00 (27:24):
Thanks for listening to Dermot Trotter.
For more about skincare, visitdermittrotter.com.
Don't forget to subscribe, leavea review, and share this podcast
with anyone who needs a littleskincare sanity.
Until next time, stay skinsmart.
And then I had my stage one A melanoma a month
after his, so very closetogether.
And then he and I thought thatwe kind of left melanoma in the
history books uh back in 2019.
And so they did another scan,full body, and then they saw his
lungs lit up like a Christmastree.
There were lesions all over hislungs.
(00:22):
He did seven rounds of gammaknife radiation to the brain to
treat the lesions because thelesions in his brain were all
inoperable.
So they were all very tiny andscattered.
So there was no way surgerywould be able to treat that.
SPEAKER_00 (00:37):
Welcome to Dermit Trotter, Don't Swear About Skin
Care, where host Dr.
Shannon C.
Trotter, a board-certifieddermatologist, sits down with
fellow dermatologists andskincare experts to separate
fact from fiction and simplifyskincare.
Let's get started.
SPEAKER_01 (00:54):
Welcome to the Dermitrotter Don't Swear About
Skin Care podcast.
Today we have another episode inwhat I've called sort of our
patient perspectives.
You know, my goal is to reallybring to not only expert skin
information, but I really wantto help you understand the
patient perspective becauselisteners out there, I know
you've gone through somethingsimilar and you're probably
looking for, okay, I know thedermatologist knows what they're
(01:17):
talking about, but what is thepatient perspective?
What about somebody else that'sactually experienced what I'm
going through?
And for our healthcareproviders, I want you to remind
yourself of the human side ofwhy we do what we do, that
patients are people and they gothrough real things.
So back on the show today, I'mso excited to have Leah Adams.
She's an avid runner, a melanomasurvivor, and the daughter of a
(01:40):
stage four melanoma warrior.
Welcome back to the podcast,Leah.
SPEAKER_02 (01:45):
Thanks, Dr.
Trotter, for having me.
I'm excited to be back heretoday.
SPEAKER_01 (01:49):
Well, you shared a lot of words of wisdom with us
on our previous podcast whereyou just talked about your own
personal experience withmelanoma, but your story is a
bit more unique than others, andthat you've also had a family
member, your dad diagnosed withmelanoma.
And I think he has a veryinteresting story for us to be
aware of too, because nobodywants to take melanoma for
granted, even those earlystages, because sometimes it's
(02:12):
much more than we anticipate.
So I'm really excited to haveyou here today to really share
kind of your perspective on whathe went through, and then also
talk a bit about what it is liketo help care for somebody,
watching somebody go throughmore advanced melanoma as well.
So I'm gonna kind of startthere.
And I know for those of you thatheard the other podcast with
Leah, you might have heard hermom is a rock star.
(02:33):
She needs to be a dermatologistand come to the office because
she was not only able torecognize Alicia on her husband,
Leah's dad, but also on Leah andhelped identify her melanoma.
So I want you to take me back towhere your mom noticed something
on your dad, or maybe somethingoccurred before that that made
you suspicious.
SPEAKER_02 (02:48):
Yeah.
So my mom back in August of 2019noticed a suspicious small on my
dad's upper back.
And it was not looking good.
It was oozing, it was pussing,it was pretty large.
And at the time, I believe mydad was in his early 60s.
(03:09):
Um, so and up until that point,he never went for a skin check.
So it was probably time for himto get one.
So um my mom made him anappointment, and he went in and
he had that mole biopsied, andit came back stage zero in site
two melanoma, and um theytreated it like an outpatient
(03:33):
procedure, wide local excision,and was told to return every six
months for skin checks.
And not entirely sure if he didthat, uh, but that was his first
bout of melanoma.
And then I had my stage one Amelanoma a month after his, so
very close together.
(03:53):
And then he and I thought thatwe kind of left melanoma in the
history books uh back in 2019.
Uh but unfortunately that wasnot the case because in January
of 2021, so we were still kindof in the height of the pandemic
and for COVID.
Um, my dad was with my mom,thankfully, but they were out on
(04:16):
a Saturday morning runningerrands.
And my dad was driving and hehad a seizure behind the wheel.
And um, luckily, my mom was ableto grab the wheel, pull them
over, call 911, and he was takento the closest hospital.
They scanned his brain to seewhat was going on, and his brain
(04:38):
scan lit up like a Christmastree.
There were lesions all over hisbrain.
Um, and the hospital he wasrushed to, after seeing that,
knew that he needed to go to abigger hospital that was going
to be able to accommodate asituation like that.
So he was lifelited to anotherhospital to do more testing and
(04:59):
a full body scan.
And because they realized, well,if there's things in his brain,
there may be other things, otherplaces in his body.
And so they did another scan,full body, and then they saw his
lungs lit up like a Christmastree.
There were lesions all over hislungs.
And before they did any biopsy,they saw those lesions in his
(05:23):
lungs.
And his doctors at the time weresaying these resemble metastatic
melanoma in the brain.
And once we heard that, we werevery shocked and very confused.
And as I mentioned, this was instill kind of the height of
COVID.
I was not able to see my dadbecause at that time, only one
(05:43):
person was allowed to go intothe hospital.
And that person was my mom.
And so hearing all this news,having, you know, her basically
being the messenger andreporting it to me, and I was
kind of outside of the hospital,and it was just a really crazy
time.
And so they basically never wantto go into the brain unless they
(06:05):
absolutely have to.
So they did an immediate lungbiopsy to take one of the
lesions in his lungs, test it,and see what it was.
And the results came back stagefour metastatic melanoma.
And so, kind of putting theirspeculation of what they saw in
the brain and then it matchingthe results from the lungs.
(06:26):
That's when he was deemed stagefour metastatic in the brain and
lungs with melanoma.
And we were all very shockedbecause, again, like I
mentioned, we thought we putthis in the history books back
in 2019.
Um, you know, his situation isum, whenever I tell his story,
it's scary for people because alot of people that have had
(06:46):
early stage melanoma, like zeroor one, they wonder, oh my
goodness, could that, you know,be me over time?
And after having a lot ofconversations with his doctors,
they're pretty confident thatsince it's very rare for a stage
zero in SIT2 to recur andmetastasize, they believe that
(07:07):
this was two different primarysources of the melanoma that
caused this.
And so they immediately wantedto get him onto treatment.
And so he did seven rounds ofgamma knife radiation to the
brain to treat the lesions,because the lesions in his brain
(07:28):
were all inoperable.
So they were all very tiny andscattered.
So there was no way surgerywould be able to treat that.
Um, and then to treat thelesions in his lungs, he was
scheduled to do 24 rounds ofimmunotherapy, four rounds of a
combo drug, and then theremainder would be a
single-agent drug.
(07:49):
And um that was really hard tosee his body and him go through
that.
Um, those drugs and thatradiation is very powerful on
the human body.
And um, you know, I don't thinkwe were totally prepared for
that because those drugs arepowerful and a lot of people can
(08:12):
withstand them, but a lot ofpeople cannot.
Some people don't, they can't,their body just can't tolerate
it, so they have to stop.
Um so my dad got through allseven rounds of gamma knife
radiation, and he got through 21rounds out of the 24 rounds of
immunotherapy.
And the only reason why theystopped him at the 21 of
(08:35):
immunotherapy round is becausewhen you have stage four
metastatic melanoma, kind of theroutine is every month you go
in, you get blood work done, youget a scan, and then they clear
you for treatment.
Well, they noticed thatsomething was going on in his
lungs that wasn't cancerrelated.
It was lung inflammation andfluid building up in his lungs.
(08:58):
And they had to try to figureout was this cancer progression
or was it a reaction from theimmunotherapy drugs?
And they were able to do sometests that identified that that
was actually coming from thedrugs.
Um, so his oncologist told us,you know, if we don't stop this
treatment now, he's not gonnadie from melanoma.
(09:20):
He's gonna die from his lungsbasically becoming inflamed and
filling up with fluid.
So his, you know, it was kind ofa bittersweet moment because um
up until that point he wasreally responding well to
treatment, kind of got badthrough all the negative side
effects.
Um, his body adapted to thetreatment.
Um, but at the same time, he wasso close to finishing, you know,
(09:43):
just a couple uh rounds away.
Uh but his oncologist feltconfident because knowing how
many rounds of radiation and howmany rounds of immuno he had,
and knowing how well heresponded, they felt confident
saying, you know, we're gonnajust pause this year, we'll do
every three-month scans and gofrom there.
(10:04):
And that stopped in November of2022.
And to this day, in May of 2025,his cancer is still stable.
Um, he now got graduated toevery six-month scans.
We're hoping to move to once ayear soon.
But looking at his scans fromnow to back then, it's
(10:24):
incredible what that treatmenthas done.
And no, it hasn't been an easyjourney on myself as a daughter
or my mom as a wife and aprimary caregiver.
But we're also just supergrateful, you know, that he's
still here because I lovetelling my story and my dad's
story because it's a really goodlearning opportunity for people
(10:48):
to understand what melanoma is.
My dad and I have had the samecancer.
The only difference is that onewas caught early and one was not
caught early.
And that is the seriousness andreally speaks to the point of
how melanoma is the fastestspreading, deadliest type of
skin cancer.
So that is my dad's story andeverything we've been through
(11:12):
with him.
SPEAKER_01 (11:14):
How do you feel like your your dad did?
I mean, obviously, I don't knowif you had conversations with
him, but when you're watchingsomebody go through it in it,
and it's your dad, right?
You know, your parents are kindof your heroes, they're a bit
invincible, you know, especiallywhen we're younger.
And now you see sort of thishuman vulnerable side to him.
How did he deal with adiagnosis?
And did he let you kind of helpand help him sort of process
(11:38):
what was going on and gettingbetter?
SPEAKER_02 (11:41):
It was hard for him because one of the biggest
things that was a challenge iswhen he had the seizure, um,
knowing we live in the state ofOhio, and I think it's pretty
common in other states as well,uh, you get your license taken
away from you because you're notmedically deemed to operate a
(12:02):
vehicle after having a seizure.
And I think the minimum waittime is six months.
And so that really impacted himbecause before his seizure, he
was actually an Amazon driverfor work.
And so melanoma not onlyimpacted his ability to drive,
but it also took away his job.
And um, you know, my dad, he'slike one of those guys where
(12:28):
even though I could drive or mymom can drive, whenever we were
in the car all together, hewanted to be the one to drive.
Like that was like his thing.
And um, I think taking that, youknow, small act away from him
really hit him hard, um, knowingit impacted, you know, his daily
(12:51):
routine, it impacted his job, itimpacted his financial
situation.
Um and, you know, not to besexist, but I think men and
women sometimes deal withcertain things like that
differently.
There's something about, youknow, you know, when something
like that happens to a manversus a woman, like sometimes
(13:12):
men can, I think, take it alittle harder, you know, because
you know, they're the man,they're the man of the house,
they're the man to do this.
And, you know, my dad couldn'teven drive to go get his hair
cut.
He couldn't drive to the grocerystore to pick up, you know, a
gallon of milk.
Like I drove my dad around andmy mom drove him around.
And obviously we did it verygraciously, but he felt like he
(13:35):
was a burden.
He felt like, you know, hecouldn't do anything.
And that played a toll on him, Ithink, mentally and emotionally,
his ego, who he was as a person.
Um, and it impacted him a longtime.
Um and unfortunately, you know,given that he had additional
seizure activity past thatsix-month timeframe, um, he
(13:58):
didn't drive for two years.
And imagine like us right now,if our license was just taken
away from us, like not beingable to drive, how much that
would impact us?
Um, it makes things challenging.
And so, again, putting it backto the perspective of melanoma,
imagine if a skin cancer coulddo that to you.
(14:19):
That's what melanoma can do toyou, you know, if that is how it
presents in somebody's brainthat causes seizures.
SPEAKER_01 (14:29):
And you're right.
I think that's what people justdon't think about is what's the
impact.
You know, you know, okay,cancer, I'm gonna have to go
through treatment, you know, I'mgonna have to do surgery, the
side effects.
But then really, how does itchange, you know, your life?
I mean, this is a life-altering,you know, diagnosis.
And I I think many diagnosesare, but in particular, like you
said, this stigma we've talkedabout, skin cancer, that, you
(14:51):
know, it's oh, cut it out andforget about it.
And sometimes too, he may havehad a little bit of comfort, you
know, with that early stage,thinking like, oh yeah, stage
your I'm I'm good to go.
And nobody thinks lightningstrikes twice, right?
I mean, although we know ifyou've had one melanoma your
risk for another issignificantly higher, and who
knows, you know, where theythink maybe that was a different
primary, how long that couldhave even been there, you know,
(15:12):
and and obviously, you know, himhaving it spread and become more
dangerous.
You know, if people are outthere caring for somebody, do
you have any tips or tricks, youknow, to sort of share with
them?
And you can empathize in adifferent way, obviously,
because you had melanoma, buthow to sort of help them process
things or be there for support?
Did anything, you know, fromworking with your, you know, or
(15:34):
I should say working, takingcare of your dad, did it really
kind of give you an ability tokind of help people through a
more difficult situation?
SPEAKER_02 (15:42):
It really allowed me to practice the skill of empathy
because yes, I've had melanoma,but I haven't had that kind of
melanoma.
And boy, did that open my eyesto what melanoma can do to a
person and their body.
Um, you know, from a caregiver'sperspective, I mean, my mom was
(16:04):
really the primary caregiver,and I was kind of the secondary
caregiver.
I'm an only child, so it'seither me or my mom, uh the ones
caring for my dad.
But I would say that it wasreally important, I think, for
me to meet my dad where he wasat.
So there would be days where I'dgo over there, and I may have
had expectations of, oh, maybehe'd want to go, like, I'll take
(16:27):
him to go play nine.
He's a golfer, he loves to golf,or maybe go to the driving
range.
And those that first year of himin treatment, I mean, he was
kind of like not well.
Um, like he wasn't himself, hewouldn't um really feel up to
doing much.
Even walking around the housewould be a lot for him.
(16:49):
Um, and so that would be sad,you know, to see a parent like
that.
But at the end of the day, Ialways had to remind myself
that, you know, that's okay.
Like we can watch a televisionshow together, or we can just
hang out in the living room.
And, you know, it really made mevalue the little things because
I started to learn while being acaregiver to my dad that these
(17:10):
little things in life thathappen to us, they're really the
big things.
And, you know, there's somepeople that may not have a
relationship with their dad ormay not even have their dad
around.
But, you know, I would againdoing that reframing that I was
speaking about in our firstepisode together, there's really
power to that and how youinterpret your situation and
(17:30):
what happens to you intosomething that's beneficial that
will allow you to kind of moveforward with whatever you're
going through.
Um, something else that Ilearned as a caregiver is that
you can't pour from an emptycup.
It is super important to takecare of yourself.
Um, so you know, as much asthere were times where I
(17:50):
remember I was training for amarathon the year my dad was
going through training.
And I remember there were acouple calls on my long runs.
I had to log, I think, a 14, 15mile run.
But in mile eight, I got a callthat my dad went to the
emergency room because of, youknow, side effects from his
treatment and um trying to notlet that interfere with what I
(18:12):
was doing or get to me or get medown.
And, you know, and again,knowing that um, no, I may have
not have finished that mileageor, you know, that I was
supposed to run, but I still gotout and ran a little bit.
And I still, you know, took alittle bit of time to myself and
did what I loved and know thatI'm still working towards a
(18:32):
goal.
Um, and again, that didn'talways come easy.
Um, and learning that didn'talways come easy, and also
reminding my mom to do that tooand take care of herself, uh,
which I know a lot of moms needthat reminder.
Um, but that is something I hadto learn as a, you know, a
daughter taking care of a dad.
Um, but yeah, I think it's it'sreally important to kind of meet
(18:55):
the patient where they're at,um, take care of yourself.
And also, like, not always talkabout cancer.
Like, there's other things thatwe can talk about.
Like, I learned that too.
Like, I remember when I wouldsee my dad, I'd ask him how he
was doing, and then I wouldn'ttalk about it again.
Like, we talk about sports, wetalk about the weather, we talk
(19:16):
about other things.
Because I try to put myself intheir shoes.
I wouldn't want to talk aboutcancer the only time I was
seeing, you know, my child orparent or what have you.
Um, so you know, it again,there's a lot of tips and tricks
I can provide, but those arelike the really big ones that I
learned throughout being acaregiver.
SPEAKER_01 (19:37):
That's a big lesson I think for people to, you know,
try to grasp.
And it's hard because, you know,you've been this person up to a
certain point, right?
And then you get a diagnosis.
And I think too many people letit define them, you know, and
and some people embrace that,thinking that it's a healthy
approach.
And I think I would agree withyou on kind of what you're
saying that, you know, it's apart of who you are, but it
(19:58):
doesn't necessarily define you.
You don't necessarily let thecancer or melanoma define you.
You know, what's a part of it'sa part of you and what's
happened, but what defines youis how you handle it, how you
process it, how maybe you moldit or help it evolve into
something more positive foryourself or for others, just
like you and it sounds like yourdad have been able to do.
But not that that's um an easytask, I think, for most people,
(20:21):
because it obviously is going tobe dominating for your thoughts
and your mind.
And so I think that can be achallenge for anyone, but great
advice to try to use it in a waythat, like you said, you know, I
doesn't necessarily, you know,become a def definite part of
who they are from the standpointthat that's all you talk about.
You know, you're so much morethan that.
And people need to be remindedof that.
I think that's healthy and apart of the healing process.
(20:43):
As both you and your dad havegone through that healing
process, one of the things Iwanted to ask you, especially
for healthcare providers thatlisten, we have dermatologists,
family medicine docs,pediatricians, MPs, PAs in
Durham, other specialties thathave helped deliver the news of
a melanoma diagnosis or maybesomething more advanced, you
(21:04):
know, that's going on with thepatient if it's, you know, a
more serious melanoma.
What's your feedback orexperience been like?
I think the good, the bad, andthe ugly, because we need to
know, I think, as providers outthere that we're delivering this
in a useful way for patientswith compassion, with accurate
information.
So I wanted to get a little bitof kind of your side of how,
both for you and dad, if you canrecall, how did that go?
(21:27):
And what would you tell somebodyout there that's getting ready
to call a patient, maybe tonightor later today with a diagnosis
of melanoma?
How do you help them throughthat?
SPEAKER_02 (21:36):
I think from an early stage perspective, um, for
me, I would like to be treatedlike any other stage cancer
patient and um, you know, havemy dermatologist or provider ask
me if I have questions, youknow, do I understand any, you
(21:59):
know, thoughts, concerns, youknow, feelings come to mind, um,
and maybe provide resources, youknow, to work through what just
happened to me, uh, you know,getting a cancer diagnosis and
especially one that's melanoma,that at the time, you know, that
person may not know where to go,you know, to provide or to
(22:21):
receive resources.
Um, so that's something that Iwish I had, even though I was,
you know, stage one, I wouldhave loved to know if there was
like maybe like a younger adultsgroup, support group I could
have maybe got involved with,because at the time of my
melanoma, the only person I knewwas my dad who had stage zero a
(22:43):
month before me.
And it would have been nice tokind of find community with
people that were maybe around myage with a similar stage.
Um, and then as far as my dad'sexperience, um, you know, again,
during the height of COVID, Iactually wasn't there when my
dad received the results.
But what I did see were thoseappointments that went really
(23:05):
well with my dad's doctors andhis team.
And I will say the mostmemorable appointments were the
ones where the oncologistanswered every single question.
Like I remember some of them, ifmy dad didn't understand things,
they'd get out a piece of paperand draw a diagram and say,
like, does this make sense?
Like, do you understand this?
And just we just felt reallysecure and felt really
(23:31):
reassured.
And the fact that we didn't feellike we were being rushed out of
that room.
Like there were times where theyreally took the time to talk to
patients.
And I know that's not always thecase because I get it, there's a
ton of cancer patients, and youall have a very limited time
frame to get through all thosepatients.
But I will say the mostmemorable were the ones that
(23:53):
took the time to meet my dadwhere he was at, as far as like
comprehending treatment orcomprehending scans.
And um, that really meant a lotto us because, you know, yes,
you're dealing with a cancerdiagnosis, but a lot of this
stuff, it's a lot to process andtake in.
And especially if you add likemedical terminology on top of
(24:17):
that, where like I get testresults sometimes and I don't
even know what I'm reading.
It's hard to interpret, youknow?
And then looking at my dad'sscans, I mean, that's like
reading a different language,you know.
So I remember just thoseexperiences with my dad's
doctors who are still like that,you know, every six months.
We just see them less now.
(24:37):
They're still lovely.
And um, you know, we reallyappreciate that because you
talked about this before, Dr.
Trotter.
We want to be treated like we'rehuman.
And it was the doctors thatreally kind of put themselves in
our shoes that really made usfeel um okay when maybe things
(24:58):
weren't okay, but we had theirsupport and we had their
reassurance, and that meant theworld to us.
SPEAKER_01 (25:05):
Well, and I think we forget that sometimes, you know,
when we're we are rushed, you'reright.
There's, you know, we're worriedabout, oh gosh, we're running so
many minutes behind, or there'sa patient next door, and you
forget sometimes to just reallyfocus and listen, you know, to
that patient and give them thetime.
I will say, particularly indermatology, we can be guilty of
it.
We are a faster-paced specialty.
(25:27):
And sometimes, you know, youneed to stop and take that
breath and ground yourself andrealize this is a little bit
different patient that I'm aboutready to walk into or talk to or
maybe do their skin exam and notto discredit, you know, somebody
who might have a wart next doorand it's driving them crazy,
right?
But at the same point, when youhave somebody with melanoma, you
know, to really give them anunderstanding that you're really
(25:50):
here for them and to remind themthat, you know, even though you
may not have all the answers,you're gonna help them through
the process and you know, do thebest skin check you can,
especially on the derm side, butjust to deliver, I think you
said that time and attention.
Even when we don't know theanswers or something's not
right, boy, does that just gothe extra mile?
You know, I think that's whatpeople want.
They want that time.
(26:10):
And sometimes we can forget todo that.
So in the derm climate, it canbe a little difficult, I know.
And you've probably seen this atdermatology offices.
Um, and so it's a challenge, butI think we can rise to it to
really help our patients andreally make a difference for
them, especially when they carrya melanoma diagnosis.
Now, I apologize.
We are running out of timealready again.
So I I want to thank you so muchfor sharing, though, the story
(26:32):
of your dad and being acaregiver, how you can help us
out there as you know, it's onthe forefront of trying to
diagnose melanoma and help withearly management and get people
to the right place.
For our listeners out there,Leah, if they want to try to
track you down, where can theyfind you online?
SPEAKER_02 (26:46):
Yeah, the best place to find me online is Instagram,
and I can be found at the LeahAlexis.
And you can follow my journeywith melanoma, my running
journey, as well as my dad'sjourney on there.
SPEAKER_01 (27:01):
Thank you so much for sharing.
And thanks again for coming on.
Um, it's really brave of you toshare, you know, you know, this
experience.
You know, I'm a private person,so it's hard for me to come on.
I really appreciate people thatare willing to put themselves
out there and to help others.
So thank you again for coming onthe podcast.
SPEAKER_02 (27:15):
Well, thanks for having me, Dr.
Trotter.
It's been a pleasure.
SPEAKER_01 (27:18):
Of course.
And stay tuned for the nextepisode of Dermot Trotter.
Don't swear about skincare.
SPEAKER_00 (27:24):
Thanks for listening to Dermot Trotter.
For more about skincare, visitdermittrotter.com.
Don't forget to subscribe, leavea review, and share this podcast
with anyone who needs a littleskincare sanity.
Until next time, stay skinsmart.
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.